This Thing Called Fate
by girl named story
Summary: After adopting an orphaned baby boy, Sakura believes she found the greatest happiness in her life. But that before an old friend comes back and the secret of her son is revealed. Now, Sakura has to fight for not only her life, but her son's.


Disclaimer: I only claim the plot, got it?

Summary: After adopting an orphaned baby boy, Sakura believes she found the greatest happiness in her life. But that before an old friend comes back and the secret of her son is revealed. Now, Sakura has to fight for not only her life, but her son's.

Rating: M, for violence, cruel jerks, cursing, and mild sexual situations.

Setting: During the prologue, the gang is 17/18 but through the rest of the story their more in the later twenties.

Aurthor's Note: I don't really know why, but this story idea has been bothering me for a long time, so I finally decided to write it out. Anyways, enoy and review at the end.

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Prologue

"Oh...my...God..."

"The smell...what is that?"

"Human flesh."

"This... this is where... Oh, God... look how many there are!"

"Orochimaru is behind this, isn't he?"

"It makes sense. Those people said they saw his ninja here."

"Ohmygod... Sasuke..."

"No way! He wouldn't do this!"

"We don't know that. They said he was here..."

"Don't say that! I know Sasuke, he wouldn't do this!"

"He's right, I don't think... he wouldn't... he couldn't... not Sasuke."

"Oh, God, the smell."

"Bend over, you look pale."

"What do we... do... with over a hundred... burnt bodies?" The question hung in the air above the three ninja, no one saying a word. None of them could move, the sight of the massacre still too fresh for any of them.

Sakura Haruno finally had enough and turned away, tears stinging her eyes, bile crawling up her throat. Her nose burned with the stench of death and her lungs were chocking from the smoke. Her charred hands covered her mouth and nose, trying to keep herself from collapsing. Her body was shaking, her head felt light and dizzy.

A hand grabbed her shoulder, and she broke down. Grabbing Sai's shirt, she buried her face in his chest, shielding herself from the horrible sight. His arms awkwardly wrapped around her, his breathing ragged. He smelled horrible, like sweat, dirt, and smoke, but Sakura didn't care. He was warm, and she felt horribly cold.

Naruto Uzumaki scanned the area, bending over, resting his hands on the tops of his thighs. Everything was black, smoke curled from the valley in a large, ominous cloud. The air was still hot, making the smell even more pungent. A few small fires were still burning, scattered across the once alive and green valley. He could make out a few buildings, a couple fenced yards, and the bodies strung across the ground. He felt his stomach begin to churn and he looked away.

Sai let Sakura go and looked over his shoulder. Naruto was still pale and Sakura was still uncontrollably sobbing. "We have to do something. We can't just leave them here." Naruto met his eyes, nodding in agreement. He glanced at Sakura, who was standing rigid, her eyes swollen and dazed as she faced the valley. Sai knew she would be useless, she was too upset. Heck, they all were, even him, the emotionless boy.

Rumors lead them here. Rumors telling them off a community of people in association with Orochimaru. Nearby farmers claimed to see ninjas come and go from the valley, sometimes never coming back. There had even been a few accounts of a spiky haired boy, young and handsome, with blood-red eyes passing through to and from the valley. People said odd things happened near the valley, things that couldn't be explained. One man said his daughter, who refused to speak with them, saw a disfigured woman eating her own arm off. That was what brought them here, here to this wasteland.

"We were too late," Sakura whispered. The heat on her face, blowing through her hair, the dirt covering her skin from the ashes blowing in the breeze, she felt ashamed. They were ninjas, they could have stopped this... this murder. She clenched her hands into fists.

"We need to check out the sight," Sai said dryly. He seriously didn't want to go down there, none of them did, but they had to. They had to investigate, it was their jobs, their duty.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Naruto muttered, standing up to his full height. Sakura closed her eyes, ignoring the fact Sai and Naruto were descending down the hill without her. Naruto stopped at the bottom and looked up at her, she hadn't moved an inch.

"Leave her, this is too much for her," Sai stated blandly. Naruto glanced at him and then back at Sakura. His face hardened.

"If Sasuke did this, don't tell her." Naruto's eyes narrowed as he scanned the area. "It would break her heart to know he ... he killed these people." Sai nodded, understanding completely.

Sakura stood on the hill, watching Naruto and Sai pick their way through the remains of a small community. She still hadn't regained use of her limbs, they felt limp and heavy. Her eyes stung from the smoke, but she didn't dare take them off the two only moving bodies below her. Her fingers tingled, her toes numb. She needed to get away, she needed to get as far away as possible. Her hugged herself, a chill coursing through her as the thought crossed her mind, _"Was Sasuke involved in this?"_

_No! Sasuke would never do something so horrible! _Inner Sakura shouted, waving her arms around frantically.

"But what if..." She didn't finish the sentence. She swallowed, trying to suppress the feeling of nausea. She was a ninja, and she should be down there with Naruto and Sai. She needed to get over her childish immaturity and face the facts. Those people are dead, burnt alive, and she was going to go down there and search for clues as to who did it. Sakura frowned, looking down the hill. It sounded so easy in her head... why couldn't she actually_ do it_?

Naruto kicked aside a half burnt piece of wood, the dust puffed up causing him to sneeze. Rubbing his nose, he noticed Sai bent over a body. His shoulders hunched and his face unreadable. "What is it? A clue?"

"Worse." Naruto slowly walked towards him, his clear blue eyes fixed on the corpse. He could tell it was a woman. Her hair was burned away, except a small patch of blonde hair near her left ear. Her face was badly burned, most of the skin gone, but still intact is other areas. Her body was curled into a ball, her arms shielding her middle. The dress she had been wearing was nothing more than a rag now, clinging to her body pathetically. "She was pregnant." He pointed to her stomach, and Naruto had to look away.

Sakura treaded through the rubble like a zombie. She had tried to find a spot where there weren't as many bodies, but they were everywhere. Frozen in the last moments they tried to escape and save their lives... She was starting to feel sick again.

_Just stop thinking about it. Get a grip of yourself! You're a ninja!_ Sakura wiped her forehead clean with her shirt and started walking again. She could see Naruto and Sai crouched over just a few feet ahead of her. Once she was with them, she would be okay. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

"This is the fourth pregnant woman I found," he said gravely. Naruto nodded, examining the woman's middle a little closer. "Is that normal, for pregnant women to group up like this?" Naruto didn't respond. He knew Sai had trouble grasping the ways of normal human beings, but did he really think this was normal? A bunch of pregnant women huddled together out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of suspicious ninjas visiting them?

"I think we should examine the rest of the bodies." Naruto glanced around. There were at least ten more thrown together just five feet away. Sighing, he looked down at the ground, trying to straighten his thoughts. "Kakashi-sensei should be here soon, we'll let him decide how to dispose of the bodies."

"That is, if that's the right thing to do." Naruto snapped his head up and glared at Sai.

"What does that mean, leave them here to rot?" Sai's mouth pinched together in a thin line.

"I think Konoha would be very interested in this place and its victims." Naruto growled, standing up and stomping away from Sai. It disgusted him just thinking of what Konoha would do once they got their hands on these bodies. They would disgrace them, cut them open and record their findings. _But it's for the better..._ Sighing, he kept walking till he reached a building that was still standing. Taking a breath, he walked inside.

Sai looked at Woman # 7, frowning, he pushed her side and examined her middle. Pregnant, just like her friends. He looked around, glancing at each body. None of them were male, and most of them were pregnant. He found one young girl who wasn't, but her body looked to young to bare a child anyways. It would have been a matter of time she would end up like the older women. He scanned his surroundings, both Naruto and Sakura were no where to be found.

"Sai! Naruto!"

"Sakura!" Sai took off to his right, heading straight for where her scream came from.

Sakura poked through a blanked and crumbled desk. She crouched and picked up what looked like a picture frame. Her eyes watered, realized the picture was of two little girls holding hands and smiling. Something caught her eye and she glanced to her left, dropping the picture and letting it shatter at her feet. She gasped and fell backwards, she hurried to scoot away.

Huddled together, holding each other in a last embrace, were too small bodies. Dead, they were obviously dead. Sakura covered her mouth, but to no avail. She vomited on the ground, her mouth thick with the bitter after taste as she collapsed. She lay there for a moment, not moving and not really looking at anything. She felt disgusted, guilty, and extremely useless. She closed her eyes and cried, hard and painful sobs shuddered through her. She was wailing before she knew it, calling out to God. It wasn't fair...

She sat up, feeling weak for reacting this way. She stood and avoided looking at the dead bodies hugging each other. _Grow up. All you have to do is close your eyes and walk around them._ Sakura closed her eyes and slowly began to walk around the bodies, stumbling here and there blindly. She stopped when she felt the toe of her shoe hit something hard.

_Ohmygod, I stepped on them! Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod! _Her eyes snapped open, and she yelped, realizing she was right. She had walked right into them. She jumped back and shivered violently. "I'm so sorry!" She held her face in her hands and cried. She froze. She wasn't the only one crying.

Looking down at the ground, she realized the two bodies were shielding something. Something that was wailing more pathetically than even Sakura. Her heart raced as she knelt down, slowly prying their dead arms apart, revealing the small face of a newborn baby boy.

"Sai! Naruto!"

Naruto's eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness inside the burnt building. The first thing he noticed was this was some sort of hospital, or maybe clinic. Blacked beds lined the walls, facing each other in two perfect lines. He walked down the aisle between them, looking for any thing else. Nothing, just a bunch of beds.

Walking straight ahead, Naruto noticed a large desk in the corner. _Maybe a secretary desk._ The top was completely bare, no papers, no telephone, and no name plate. Just a plain desk top. Naruto walked to the other side and realized there wasn't even a chair.

There were four drawers along each side and one large one in the middle. He tried each one but they were all locked. Frowning, Naruto decided he had to use brute force. Naruto yanked open the middle drawer with the help of his kunai and began to shuffle through it. Pens, stationary, and a bunch of paper clips. He slammed it shut and began on the four to the left.

A stapler, a staple remover, empty folders, blank paper, applications asking about health history, and even more paper clips. Sighing with disappointment, Naruto moved on to the right side. By the time he go to the last drawer, Naruto was only expecting more paper clips, but when he yanked it open, his eyes found something useful. A list of due dates for several women, all in which were recorded in codenames.

"Patient name: Dove, Due Date: December 12, Code Yellow." Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Code yellow? That's not a normal hospital term..."

"Sai! Naruto!" He spun around, hearing Sakura's scream echo through the empty hospital. He grabbed everything his hands could carry and darted straight out the door.

"Sakura!" She could hear Sai running for her, he wasn't that far away to begin with. Sakura gently lifted the baby from the clutches of the two dead girls, and held him to her chest. He was still crying, his face red and blotchy, his hair a puff of black and his eyes squeezed shut. His pink gums were exposed as his mouth opened wide to cry. Sakura rocked him, trying to calm both him and her.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Sakura looked up. Sai was jogging towards her, eyeing the bundle in her arms. She didn't have to say anything. She could tell by the way his face fell and how he froze in his steps that he knew she was holding a baby, an alive baby.

"He's okay. No major injuries, not even a scratch," Sakura stated quietly. "Isn't that odd?" she added after a pause. Sai still hadn't moved, his eyes expressionless.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" She looked past Sai to see Naruto running to her. He halted next to Sai, panting and staring at the baby. "What is that?"

"It's a baby," Sai replied coldly. Sakura drew her eyebrows together, wondering why he sounded so angry about it.

"Well, no duh, genius," Naruto muttered as he approached Sakura slowly. "Is it hurt?" Sakura looked back down at him, his face still flushed but at least he stopped crying. His eyes were still closed and his tiny fingers were latched to Sakura's shirt. She smiled.

"No, I checked him. He's fine." Naruto stared at him, kneeling down to get a closer look. Sakura looked up at him. "We have to get him out of here. This place isn't safe for a baby. The smoke is already bothering his lungs." She hadn't noticed Sai was standing behind her, and his shadow made her jump. "Jeez! Warn someone when you're going to creep up like that." Sai said nothing.

"Sensei will know what to do with him." Sakura's face fell.

"Naruto, Konoha is going to take this baby away, aren't they?" Naruto looked at her, startled.

"Well, yeah, Sakura. He's evidence." Her face hardened as she glared at him darkly.

"He's a child, Naruto, not _evidence_," Sakura hissed.

"I don't think he's safe." Sakura glared over her shoulder at Sai.

"He's a baby! How can he not be safe?" Sai knelt behind her, looking at the baby from over her shoulder. Sakura shivered, feeling his breath on her neck. He never did understand personal space.

"Almost every single woman here is pregnant, and there aren't any males. Isn't that odd to you?" Sakura glowered, but Naruto brightened.

"Look at what I found!" He shoved the paper towards them. Sai grabbed it and read it hastily before holding it out for Sakura to read.

"What does 'Code Blue' mean?" she asked as Sai stood up, rereading the paper. Naruto shrugged.

"I don't know, but it all somehow fits together." Sai stopped, dropping the paper to his side. "Kakashi is here." Sakura and Naruto looked up to see their sensei walking slowly towards them, his face too far away to see.

"I hope he has some sort of idea," Sakura said after the moment of silence. Naruto looked back at the baby, Sai crashed to his knees and ran his hands through his hair.

"I think I have an idea." Sakura looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Me too," Naruto added. Sakura grunted.

"Well, then tell me!"

"Experiments." Sai finally answered after a second of hesitation. Naruto nodded in agreement. Sakura's blood froze in her veins.

"That's just a rumor."

"Well, sometimes rumors are true." Sakura glared at him, not willing to believe this child was some sort of filthy human experiment. He seemed too normal!

"There's nothing wrong with him, if that's what you're thinking." Sai looked at her, his eyes in slits. "I checked!"

"I'll believe that when the Hokage looks at him."

"I'm her student and you don't trust my judgment?" Before Sai could answer, Kakashi approached them.

"Well, it seems we have a mess on our hands." None of them said a thing. "Sakura, did you have a baby?" Sakura sighed. Of course, only Kakashi knew how to stay light hearted through something like this.

Tsunade stared at Sakura, trying to read her face and figure out what in the world she was thinking. "Are you sure, Sakura? This is a big responsibility." Sakura stood firm, staring at her senpai sternly.

"Yes, I'm sure. I've never been more sure about anything," she paused, "Except being your student," she added with a small smile. Tsunade smiled, her painted lips curling at the corners.

It was two months ago she had heard news of the Valley Incident. It was more than obvious Orochimaru was behind it, but figuring out what it actually was, was the tricky part. She had her most talented ninjas search the valley top to bottom, but the only thing that truly held valuable information was the piece of paper Naruto had found in the hospital. And of course, the bodies themselves. Children, young boys and girls, and pregnant women were the victims of the arson. There was only one survivor, a baby boy who had spent the last two months being examined endlessly. He had turned up clean, no abnormal features, all ten fingers, and all ten toes. He was a normal, healthy, three month old baby.

But he had no home, no one to take care of him. Tsunade couldn't take the job, she was already overwhelmed with being Hokage. And no one else seemed to be jumping to adopt the poor thing, well, except for Sakura.

"Raising a child isn't something you can turn your back on, it's a task you take on for the rest of your life." Sakura smiled warmly.

"Tsunade-sama, I know that. I'm not doing this as a fashion trend, I seriously want to raise him as my son." Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples. She was worried about Sakura, like a mother worries, and it stressed her out sometimes.

"But you're so young, Sakura, only seventeen! Do you really want to be tied down by a child? Can you really take care of him?" This seemed to hit a nerve with her pink haired student.

"I won't be tying myself down! I'll be taking the role every girl takes on, a role that comes from the heart. My mother told me the first time she held me, she knew she'd spend the rest of her life protecting me and loving me. I never knew what that meant... until that day I found him. When he was in my arms, all I wanted to do was make sure no one ever harmed him, I wanted him safe." Sakura paused, her eyes rimmed with tears. "I love him, senpai. I love him and I want him to be my son." She wiped her eyes dry. "And for being able to take care of him, I'm sure if I ever need help, there will be someone there for me. My mother, Ino, Kakashi-sensei..." Tsunade closed her eyes and smiled.

"And me, Sakura." She looked at her. "You have me too, when I can, I'll help you." Sakura's eyes lit up, she early walked towards her.

"So, you're letting me adopt him?" Tsunade turned her chair around, looking out the window at the village. She folded her hands on her lap and calculated all the outcomes to her decision. Finally, she sighed.

"Congratulations, Sakura Haruno." She spun her chair around. "You're a new mother of a healthy baby boy."


End file.
